Cathay General Bancorp Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.34 (NASDAQ:CATY)

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY - Get Free Report) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, February 14th,RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 27th will be paid a dividend of 0.34 per share by the bank on Monday, March 10th. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.91%.

Cathay General Bancorp has increased its dividend by an average of 2.3% annually over the last three years. Cathay General Bancorp has a payout ratio of 28.6% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Cathay General Bancorp to earn $4.48 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.36 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 30.4%.

Cathay General Bancorp Stock Performance

NASDAQ:CATY traded up $0.08 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $46.66. The stock had a trading volume of 27,040 shares, compared to its average volume of 315,223. The stock has a market cap of $3.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.80 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. Cathay General Bancorp has a 12-month low of $33.88 and a 12-month high of $55.29. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $47.77 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $46.27.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 22nd. The bank reported $1.12 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.02. Cathay General Bancorp had a net margin of 20.57% and a return on equity of 10.70%. On average, equities analysts expect that Cathay General Bancorp will post 4.29 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have commented on CATY shares. Piper Sandler decreased their target price on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $45.00 to $43.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $56.00 to $55.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Wedbush boosted their price target on Cathay General Bancorp from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Stephens decreased their target price on Cathay General Bancorp from $60.00 to $57.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $50.80.

Cathay General Bancorp Company Profile

Cathay General Bancorp operates as the holding company for Cathay Bank that offers various commercial banking products and services to individuals, professionals, and small to medium-sized businesses in the United States. The company offers various deposit products, including passbook accounts, checking accounts, money market deposit accounts, certificates of deposit, individual retirement accounts, and public funds deposits.